Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The victory achieved by the farm workers in the decision of the
Supreme Court ordering the distribution of the land under Hacienda
Luisita did not make their life easier as the military continues to
harass them. By RONALYN V. OLEABulatlat.com

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac City – Out of fear, Michelle Mandigma, 30,
left their home in barangay Balete in October last year. Along with her
husband and seven children, Mandigma sought shelter at the office of the
Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala).

Mandigma said soldiers had frequented their house located in the
middle of the farm since Ambala, of which her husband is an active
member, set up the picketline within the disputed land being claimed by
the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in July last year.

“For months, they occupied the hut in front of our house, staying
there for long periods of time,” Mandigma told members of a fact-finding
mission, March 10. Mandigma said that the men wore civilian clothes but
admitted to being soldiers. “They would ask us who are the NPAs [New
People’s Army] here in the hacienda and who visits the picketline,”
Mandigma said. The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP).

The fact-finding mission organized by the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa
Gitnang Luson (AMGL), Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma),
Karapatan and other groups revealed that military presence is notable in
ten barangays (villages) inside the hacienda owned by the family of
President Benigno S. Aquino III. Several units of the military under the
7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army used barangay halls as
their detachments, and occupied even the office of the United Luisita
Workers’ Union (Ulwu) in barangay (village) Mapalacsiao.

According to international humanitarian law, soldiers are prohibited from using public places for their operations..... MORE

03/13/2012
Without saying it, impeachment court
presiding justice Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile bared his heart the
other day on the doubts he holds on the ability of some of the
senator-judges in the Senate trial to render an impartial judgment on
impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Noynoy’s Senate partymates
and some other senators who have been won over to the oust-Corona
movement have been and continue to be perceived as aiding the
prosecution panel by jumping in whenever the accusers of Corona
encounter a dead end either through sheer incompetence or as a result of
the rules of the Senate court, which rules, not surprisingly, are being
claimed by the same Noynoy senator allies not to apply strictly — to
the point of even introducing hearsay as evidence beneficial to Noynoy
and his senator-judges, and also polluted and illegally obtained
evidence as proof..... MORE

Pentagon’s joy at getting tons of money for a bigger, badder bomb
was, apparently, premature. Iran claims to have invented “super
concrete” – of a type that will stop the Massive Ordnance Penetrator
from penetrating… well, anything.

­Iran is known for being one of the most earthquake-prone countries
in the world. As a result, their scientists have gotten really good at
creating ultra-high performance concrete, or UHPC, which is one of the
toughest and most rigid building materials in the world. And like any
dual-use technology, it can have military applications as well –
something the Iranians are keen to utilize.What they’ve done is the
exact opposite of that age-old adage: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it”..... MORESource: RT.com

The United Nations official investigating the American military’s
treatment of Bradley Manning has ruled that the US government imposed
cruel, inhuman, degrading and borderline torturous treatment on the
alleged WikiLeaks contributor.

The UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, has completed
his 14-month investigation into the detainment of Private First Class
Bradley Manning, a 24-year old US soldier. Following allegations that he
aided Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks site, Manning was arrested in May 2010
for disclosing classified material and has been in governmental custody
for the nearly two years since. Despite a lengthy stint in military
prison, Manning was formally arraigned only recently with a series of
crimes that could put him away for the rest of life. In that period
where Manning was held without charge, the UN now reports that the
alleged whistleblower was subjected to reprehensible treatment at the
hands of the United States..... MORE

Hundreds of Afghan university students have taken to the streets to
protest a shooting spree in Kandahar that left 16 dead. The protesters
demanded justice for the victims and a full withdrawal US forces.

About 400 students rallied in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad
on Tuesday. The mob, which blocked a highway leading to the country’s
capital of Kabul, chanted anti-American slogans and demanded a public
trial for the shooter. .... MORE

03/13/2012
Some weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me
what amounted to a manifesto for national development. Interestingly,
the author is not Filipino but a UK businessman-scientist who’s been
resident here for over 20 years. See what you think.

For the
agricultural sector, the manifesto proposes that 10 million Merino sheep
should be introduced on the land above 700 meters in Luzon, Mindoro and
Panay. Each year, these would produce 80 million kilos of fine wool
worth $640 million. Including the downstream processing and spinning
plants and the fine garment factories, it’s estimated that two million
jobs would be created.

On currently idle land throughout the
Philippines, it’s proposed that between a million and 1.5 million Red
Devon cattle, which do not need to be fed on grain, be introduced for
the purpose of beef production, providing $75 million in annual revenue
and creating 100,000 jobs in farming, transportation and processing.
There are further proposals for fruit tree cultivation, the banning of
tobacco production and the development of trout fishing and pine
plantations — all generating considerable revenue and jobs..... MORE

03/13/2012
On the occasion of the impeachment trial
ready for resumption, it is both fortunate and important that some kind
of a thumb rule adopted by American jurisprudence was invoked for the
occasion by an able senator-judge.

This is motivated by the
mysterious appearance of a “small lady” alleged to have handed certain
bank accounts to a member of prosecution for evidentiary use against the
subject-object of the impeachment. This already perplexing production
of evidence against the accused was even reinforced by another unseen
and unknown individual said to have covertly delivered copies of the
same bank accounts to the garage of another member of the prosecution..... MORE

Different media
groups condemned the brutal attack on The Daily Tribune Malacaang beat
reporter Fernan Angeles who was mauled and shot seven times in different
parts of the body by still unidentified assailants with the National
Press Club (NPC) putting up a P100,000 reward for the identification of
the suspects.

The Tribune issued a statement calling on the
government to act decisively in solving the crime and to put up measures
to protect journalists from the various risks they encounter in the
exercise of their jobs.

We expect the government and the
Philippine National Police (PNP) to act with expediency in capturing
those responsible for this reprehensible crime, the Tribune statement
read.

It also issued a call on the media community to act and seek
an end to the culture of impunity that prevails in the country that
allows the unabated targeting of journalists that made the Philippines one of the most dangerous places for members of the media in the world..... MORE

The
first witness of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the impeachment trial
painted yesterday a vivid picture of how members of the House of
Representatives were threatened with their pork barrel being withheld by
Malacanang if they questioned the railroading of the impeachment
complaint against Corona.

Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco took the
witness stand for the defense despite vigorous objections from the
prosecution panel on his testimony over what happened in last December’s focus which approved the impeachment complaint.

Under
direct examination by defense counsel Dennis Manalo, Tiangco said
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte told congressmen that the impeachment was
‘non-debatable’..... MORE

03/13/2012
The Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) Central Office is investigating nine regional
and field officials from their branch office in the Western Visayas
Region who allegedly issued thirty-one fake land titles in Boracay.

The erring officials, who were not named yet, are the subject of an administrative complaint for grave misconduct.

The
respondents were cross-examined by a probe team chaired by DENR
Undersecretary for Field Operations lawyer Ernesto Adobo Jr. in a
hearing in the pool side of West Town Hotel, Iloilo City from Feb. 29 to
March 2, 2012..... MORE

Filipinos
moving from Saudi Arabia to other countries for work or migration were
advised by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to obtain a police
clearance or they would be barred from entering their new destinations.

A
clearance prior to departure is needed if they are moving to Australia,
Canada, Europe or the United States, the DFA said, adding it is an
entry or residency requirement in these countries for all Filipinos
coming from Saudi Arabia.

Those seeking to obtain a police
clearance while still in the Kingdom should have a letter of endorsement
addressed to the police obtained from the Philippine embassy in Riyadh.
The document costs 100 Saudi Riyals..... MORE